The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to solar cells.
Fabrication costs associated with molded wafer solar cells are generally less than fabrication costs associated with cast wafer solar cells. However, the molded wafer cells are typically somewhat less efficient and much thicker, for example on the order of 600 microns, than cast wafer cells.
Because the generated photocurrent has to be conducted through the entire wafer, a reduced open circuit voltage occurs in molded wafer solar cells. Under normal operating conditions, the open circuit voltage is also impacted by the temperature rise of the molded silicon wafer solar cells. Cooling of any solar cell, whether molded or cast for example, that is packaged in a conventional module is a challenge because the cells are laminated in a package using materials that act as thermal insulators.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide improved cooling in solar cells generally and more particularly to prevent reduced open circuit voltage in molded wafer solar cells.